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Coming into the Nigeria set up I decided that some changes were needed, but not many. Just the odd few older and more experianced players were to lose their place to a younger and less experienced person, the main reason was because the older players who had played in the ACN and World Cup qualifiers clearly weren't good enough and I like to start with a youngish squad and develop them into players that with experience can go far.

So here is my first squad and tactics. (Going to add 4-2-3-1 as a back-up tactic, that is simply moving the DM to AM to give more options upfront, if needed)

There are many quality players and if I can use the right formation, tactic and roles then we can definitely go far.

Congo vs Nigeria (World Cup Qualifier)
A very impressive performance, I can see the quality is in this team and that they can definitely go far. The formation/tactic isn't the familiar to them and with a few changes to the squad I was pleased to get the result with relative ease. I just hope as they grow to learn the tactics they start to step up meaning we can take on the bigger teams in Africa and the World. I was dissapointed about their goal, free header from a free-kick but I will wait and see if that becomes a main problem for us.

Namibia vs Nigeria (World Cup Qualifier)
A brilliant performance where we dominated the whole game. We took our chances when we got them which pleased me, the only down point on the game was the shots on target to shots ratio. That dissapointed me as I would have wanted less on off target but nevertheless when we got them on target we troubled and got the goals. Give us a few months and when the players gel with the formation I'm sure we can look forward to taking on the bigger teams.

Nigeria vs DR Congo (World Cup Qualifier)
Having managed DR Congo in FM11 I know they do have some decent players but yet again we dominated the game and bossed the midfield. Unfortunately though the shots on target to shots was even worse than the last match. We seem to lack the ability to actually get shots on target which is really frustrating because when we play the big teams we will have to take our chances.

Nigeria vs Congo (World Cup Qualifier)
We won the group. Now here come the bad points. This has become ridiculosly frustrating now, we were against 10 men and still, still couldn't even manage to hit the ball towards the goal. I'm not surprised they didn't get to the World Cup. I'm not surprised they've won bugger all. Just look at my games in charge, notice a pattern? Yes, of course. There is one blindingly obvious pattern appearing.

Congo 1-4 Nigeria
43% of shots were on target. 66% of shots on target were goals.

Namibia 0-5 Nigeria
48% of shots were on target. 41% of shots on target were goals.

Nigeria 2-0 DR Congo
22% of shots were on target. 50% of shots on target were goals.

Nigeria 0-0 Congo​
18% of shots were on target. 0% of shots on target were goals.

In total, 74 shots. 25 shots on target. 11 goals.
34% of shots were on target. 44% of shots on target were goals. For me, that just isn't good enough especially when one of those games was against 10 men. I may be looking into it too much but when I play the bigger teams, I will do exactly the same to show that we simply are not clinical enough upfront. They are worse than N. Ireland and without a Jonny Evans to carry us, I'd be surprised if we get to the World Cup.

I understand I am going into detail here, but having tweaked my tactics, changed the roles, trying loads of different things. Nothing is working and it's not as though we have poor strikers/wingers either.

Egypt vs Nigeria (World Cup Qualifier)
A great game for the neutral, for both managers not so good. Their first 2 goals were poor defended, we just stood and watched them without making a challenge but their 3rd goal was well worked, to be fair. Quick movement and passing cut me open and when the final ball went into the box they beat our defender to the header and scored. We started okay going forward, didn't have too many chances but took them well and our first 3 shots on target were the goals but then as the chances came more and more we seemed to lack the composure we had in the opening hour. All square in the first game so it's all down to the 2nd leg.

33% of shots were on target. 60% of shots on target were goals.
So a big improvement on the latter but average on the shots on target.

Nigeria vs Egypt (World Cup Qualifier)
Now you would expect, being 1 game away from the World Cup finals that the basics of football are known and every day things? Not for Nigeria, as you will see in the post below we were very poor defensively. I kept almost the same team but got an almost opposite performance. We went missing, never turned up, it was a training day for Egypt, think of all the cliches and more, that's how to describe us. My assistant manager was wrong about the players, they don't have no where near the quality needed to win anything or qualify for the World Cup. I will be standing down if I am not sacked. There are many reasons for this but the main one, I haven't enjoyed Nigeria and I don't like managing a team that just isn't fun to manage.

21% of shots were on target. 33% of shots on target were goals.
You will NEVER win anything with statistics like this and this isn't a one off game, I have proved that.

Yep, their attack breezed through 3 defenders who didn't seem to look at the ball.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a Nigeria goal, of course not. Just look at how we give them the ball and then decided not to watch anybody that might break free in the box. Heaven forbid you mark them!

That's right, a great header from the over 100 caps Taiwo followed by about 3 or 4 defenders standing and watching a game of football that they were supposed to be playing in.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Need we say anything about the 'last ditch tackle'?
Of course not!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, when your only goal is this, you don't stand a chance of getting anywhere.

We had a good 4 or 5 chances after this goal, but obviously missed them all.

Reason for Leaving: I've said before, but I'm just not enjoying my time here. It's a very frustrating and stressful team to manage. When I first arrived I could see the squad was full of quality and could easily make the knock out rounds of the World Cup but quite simply they can't perform at all to be honest. Yes I beat Namibia 5-0 and Congo 4-1 but when you look at the amount of chances we had that was an average performance. The goals we scored and conceded in the last game against Egypt just confirmed that my fears were true, if we had lost in a different vain I would have waited around for a good offer but I can't wait to get out of here.

Overall Comment: Very, very, very dissapointed. I was really looking forward to managing Nigeria but it's just not what it cracked up to be.

Egypt. Definately. Can get lap of luxury in Sharm-el-Sheik. Bugger the big boys.

I remember managing Mexico in FM09 or 10. Just started as them and took them all the way to the World Cup final, beating Italy, France and Germany along the way only to lose 1-0 to Paraguay in the final! I loved it!

Egypt, Argentina, Belgium and Brazil are definate no's, Argentina because they won the World Cup, Brazil because I managed them in 11, Belgium because I'd rather take a big nation and Egypt because I had no intention of taking over them (they offered me the job).

Which leaves Mexico and USA, I will have to have a look at both teams before announcing who I will accept.

If I had a choice, Brazil are just a mouth-watering prospect. So much quality youth intake, incredible players - after the frustration of Nigeria, it would be heaven. Given your choices, I would say the USA, though.

If I had a choice, Brazil are just a mouth-watering prospect. So much quality youth intake, incredible players - after the frustration of Nigeria, it would be heaven. Given your choices, I would say the USA, though.

I would have loved to manage USA more than any of those teams. Just the fact that they aren't a footballing nation but yet have some quality soccer, sorry, football is really intriguing! However, they beat England in the 3/4 place play off and sit 10th in the World whereas Mexico didn't make it out of the groups and are 35th in the World. There is less pressure and more chance of achieving something with Mexico than USA at this moment in time.

Well, Mexico's not a bad alternative, either! I remember back in my FM10 save, in the 2030s, they were the best team in the world. They certainly have enough potential going through their youth ranks - theyve always been loaded in all my saves.

Well, Mexico's not a bad alternative, either! I remember back in my FM10 save, in the 2030s, they were the best team in the world. They certainly have enough potential going through their youth ranks - theyve always been loaded in all my saves.

They definitely have quality and I'll be looking to bring it out of them hopefully. Back to USA they are a team I definitely want to manage at some point but there are a lot of teams like that, Austrailia, England, USA are the main 3, each in different continents.

Ukraine vs Mexico (Friendly)
Take a real good look at when the goals were scored. We even missed a sitter in the 90th minute to equilize! I'm glad I had that friendly, because I went into the game thinking 'we will score more goals than them' well, although we scored 3 we gave away 4. Our defensive line cannot push up, maybe I should play a DM instead of a AM and maybe I should go control rather than attacking. I played a young squad, which will change in the next friendly as I have that many good midfielders I'm not sure which is the best combination.

Mexico vs Austria (Friendly)
Attacking wise we played well, okay we didn't score enough for the amount we created but it was a very strong defensive display from Austria and surprisingly a very boring game. We lack a good defence though, that's our problem. It is obvious, we've scored 6 goals and conceded 7, against slightly poorer teams (in my opinion). The opposition seem to get in behind our defence way to easily, which is a problem that I don't really know how to stop, when your defenders are slow, what can you do?

Netherlands vs Mexico (Friendly)
We play the 4-2-3-1 formation and the positives about it is that we score a lot of goals, another 4 today but the downside to it is that we do concede goals and quite a few chances which with a 4-5-1 formation I think we would stop but would we score the amount of goals we currently do? Probably not. I will try out the 4-5-1 formation at some point just to see. Anyway a great performance, we defended well and took our chances very well. We definitely have quality upfront just not so much in the back 4 which is why a DM is probably needed but for now we will stick with 'we'll score more goals than you'.

Mexico vs Argentina (Friendly)
Argentina have just won the World Cup, they are the Worlds number 1 and we absolutely battered them. They had 5 minute spells in the first half but apart from that, nothing, we dominated the game created some great chances and played some beautiful flowing football. We really were World Class, the goals were all easy finishes but brilliantly worked down the wings and through the middle. We have a great bunch of players here, the defence is no older than 23 (barring Ochoa) and although the attack is slightly older we have great youngsters.

Copa America 2019 - Group Stage
I have to be honest, this is one of the best groups I could have got. I want to have a challenging team in with us, we got Brazil and I wanted a team that would realistically give us a run for 2nd place which is Chile. It's a competitive group but I think we can qualify from it and go forward.

Ivory Coast vs Mexico (Friendly)
This was possibly a better win than the Argentina game, we had a depleted squad before hand and at half time I decided to use all my subs and try out more players, straight away one of the subs that went on got injured so I ended up playing this formation. Which wasn't good at all, 3 players totally out of position. I had Vela and Perez LM and RM until around the 80th minute when I dropped them down to add more cover. Amazingly though Ivory Coast didn't threaten at all in the 2nd half, so we managed to keep them at bay easily.

Mexico vs Uruguay (Friendly)
I don't think either team could have used this game to see how good they are, I had about 5/6 first team players out injured and as you can see Uruguay got 3 injuries in the game. It was that type of game, meaty challenges with shots off goal. It was disappointing to have so many shots with so little on target but I'm not going to complain because like I said there was a lot of chopping and changing but we won, so surely we can't be that bad? Uruguay were 18th in the rankings.

*Just a quick note, after the Argentina game Ghana approached me and after the Ivory Coast game, yet again N. Ireland approached me. They do miss me!

Gold Cup 2019 - Group Stage
We should progress with ease from this group, I'm hoping to win the tournament as well. I would be dissapointed if we didn't especially seen as Mexico have won it the past 2 times.

South Korea vs Mexico (Friendly)
This really should have been embarrassing, I could see from the first 10 minutes we weren't in the game and we never would be. They put ball after ball after ball after ball after ball in the box and if it wasn't for their poor finishing and decent goalkeeping we would have been 4 down before we even scored. We only scored because of poor defending, there was lack of movement and lack of passing that fortunately when we decided to try and score they couldn't defend. Once we scored they came back, got 2 and played how they wanted for the rest of the game. The stats suggest it was even, trust me, we were never in the game. Maybe the fact it was gusty and -5 degrees had an effect, maybe?

And after failing to get out of the group stage of the African Cup of Nations, Nigeria sacked their manager and approached me.

Mexico vs Australia (Friendly)
Very pleasing performance, they never threatened us and we took our chances when we got them. I've found my best defence, they stand out above the rest but I'm still struggling to find the best attacking players, some, like Vela may be to old for the World Cup in 3/4 years time but right now some of the younger players may not be good enough yet so it's still up in the air at to who is a 'starting 11' but nevertheless whoever plays, usually plays well.

U20 Championship Final
I didn't watch it, whenever I watch my youngsters whether it be the Youth team for a club or U20's in the international team we always seem to lose, so I do stem away from watching them. It was a shame we lost but at least we went all the way, so although USA got their name on the trophy the match did end in a draw.

World Rankings - April 2019
We have slowly moved up and broke into the top 30, which is pleasing to say all we've had is friendlies. Hopefully with a Gold Cup win and a good show in Copa America we can climb even further.

Mexico vs Croatia (Gold Cup Warm-Up Friendly)
This was an almost perfect game to have before the Gold Cup, Croatia came and gave us an amazing challenge. As you can see they hammered us, but not as much as it shows. In the first half they were leading and dominating the game with ease, so after giving the team the hairdryer treatment I used all my possible subs to show them I wasn't happy with the performance and we went out and took control of the game. Scoring two good goals then tightening our defence, becoming much more solid and making sure we won the game. So it wasn't the greatest attacking display but defensively we were sound.

Haiti vs Mexico (Gold Cup Group Stage)
We really did get away with this, against Croatia we defended brilliantly and they barely got a clear cut chance, Haiti opened us up so many times from all over the field. When we pulled it back to 1-1 their player ran through the whole team from kick off and hit the post. Then in the second half a CB launched it forward and their striker was through on goal only to miss. Ochoa saved quite a few and kept us in it and then even when we got forward we never troubled them which was frustrating I just hope it was complacency more than anything.

Mexico vs Jamaica (Gold Cup Group Stage)
Again, Jamaica started off the better team and did cause us problems just not as much as what Haiti did although once we got the first goal they seemed to lose confidence and we went and got the second. After that they didn't have much and at half time I changed the tactics moving my AMC to DM and trying out my trusted 4-5-1 formation which worked well. We created some good chances, took one and they didn't trouble us. I will use the formation from the start of the game against Panama too see if we perform better defensively. One major point though, you see that yellow card? It was a two footed challenge. I was so gutted and when I looked up it was a yellow, we really got away with that.

Panama vs Mexico (Gold Cup Group Stage)
Using the 4-5-1 formation we managed to really limit them in the first half and go forward and take our chances but when the second half came around we started to lose concentration, gave them more of the ball and really did waste a lot of half chances. In all honesty we should have walked away from that game having won at least 5-0. When I first arrived we had games like Ukraine 3-4 and Argentina 3-0 but now we've tightened up our defence we don't go and score as many, we're not as ruthless, it's as though we feel sorry for the smaller teams but we won all 3 with a bit of ease.

With the Gold Cup and Copa America being in the same summer I've already had to select my 23 man squad for the Copa America but an interesting point of that is, it's not reverted back to my 22 man squad for the Gold Cup. I'm not really going to complain as I have an extra player and I have a little bit more quality but it's odd that it's not reverted back to the Gold Cup squad.

That probably happens in real life so why haven't SI been able to implement it in FM? Not complaining just saying what has happened.

You could also say it's given me an advantage over the other teams? Seen as I'm the only team in the Gold Cup participating in the Copa America I've got to change my team but the others haven't.

Mexico vs U.S.A (Gold Cup Quarter Final)
An amazing game that we did deserve to win, America came out the blocks flying with shot after shot but then we broke up the pitch and scored in the 4th minute. Still America threw everything they had at us and the shots tally was around 15 to 2 in the first half an hour. We held out, mainly because of poor finishing from them and great keeping from Ochoa. Our defence let them in way to many times. So for them to have so many shots from inside the box I was gutted to concede and equalizer like this. After that I went to do some subs, but decided against it then thought no I should, I went on off the tactics screen so many times, I never did any subs just always considered and wanted to. In the end I never did and we got forward and scored again to put us 2-1 up, we took good control after that and they never had anything decent, I went back onto the tactics and then we scored again. Brilliant. I brought my two yellow carded players off (although one of them has reached the limit and will miss the semi final), didn't want any red cards but of course, Javier Hernandez who has had an amazing game decides he no longer wants to play in the semi final so gets a straight red. Why? I will never know. (You can't see it in the screen shot because of the large kits it doesn't fit on).

Edit: Just got news that Javier Hernandez is banned for three games after a disciplinary committee watched the video again. It was deserved but very, very annoying. Just why did he do it!?

Honduras vs Mexico (Gold Cup Semi-Final)
Well this was an odd game, we were clear favorites and took the lead 30 seconds into the game. At half time Honduras had done nothing to even worry me, I honestly we'd go out there take another 2 goals and we'd ease into the final. So I brought my holding DM off seen as his condition was quite low after taking a knock to rest him for the final in 2 days. They got a corner and scored, the player who replaced my holding DM didn't mark the attacker properly and that had them straight back into the match. Fortunately they didn't have the quality we had to go through, we broke forward a few times and eventually a rebounded shot fell to Perez who had the easy task of putting it in the open goal. However in the dieing seconds they did miss a clear cut header.

Canada vs Mexico (Gold Cup Final)
The first was your typical final, edgy without any team really want to break forward in case the opposition get the ball and score a counter attack. They injured two of our players, like wise we did them and that shook the team up in the first half. I left Roman on (AML) after he picked up a knock which left Vela upfront (I prefer having him AML with Hernandez upfront). It didn't take us long to get the first goal after the break, it came from nothing and was an empty net goal. The second was a scramble resulting in an own goal. Not a great game but Finals never really are. I was under pressure to win with them having won it the past 2 times and in the end it was pretty simple, even if I make it sound hard. Now we are straight onto the Copa America...

On a very sad note, 3 of my best players are out injured for the Copa America and I'm not allowed to call up replacements. They actually are 3 first teamers as well.

Just read through this thread, very good reading. Well done with N.Ireland and hope Mexico goes well. Reading this has made me want to start an international career seen as I am yet to get fully into a save yet. Keep up the good work!

I nearly did, I was genuinely worried when they pulled it back to 1-1. I thought I'd done us in with the sub.

Originally Posted by ArsenalMetro

Yup.

I'll go to America one day! Maybe via Toronto though

Originally Posted by apchivers

Just read through this thread, very good reading. Well done with N.Ireland and hope Mexico goes well. Reading this has made me want to start an international career seen as I am yet to get fully into a save yet. Keep up the good work!

International careers are great, I'd seriously suggest doing it but you do need patience. The winter season is horrible, you don't play a game for months and if you holiday, the ass man changes your team around which annoyed me.

Ecuador vs Mexico (Copa America Warm-Up Friendly)
We have never been so clinical. The goals were brilliant, well played, through balls, finished well, we were on fire. It is a shame we conceded 2 because it still shows frailty in our defence, but we are missing 1 CB for 2months and 1 winger for 5 weeks plus another injury. So with 3 injuries I may cancel the friendly against Colombia, I don't want to risk it. Javier Hernandez links really well with Carlos Vela but he still has a 1 match ban, which is the game against Chile.

Mexico vs Colombia (Copa America Warm-Up Friendly)
I left it to late and was unable to cancel the friendly. I changed the team around so that the players had rest and were fit for the Chile game. We went out and played very well, kept a clean sheet and got goals when we needed to, finishing them off in the last 5 minutes. Two solid games against teams in the Copa America but the group stage will be more of a challenge, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela.

They are the best young players, there are a few good regens that are 23/24 but I thought giving an on look to the younger side would be better, if you want any more screenshots just ask I'll happily oblige!

Chile vs Mexico (Copa America Group Stage)
When I came, I knew we had goal scoring ability and we didn't half prove it here! We were massive underdogs but we went out and hammered them. No one had a bad game and although we conceded a goal at the end, which we seem to do a lot, we didn't put a foot wrong. The odd thing was that Javier Hernandez could play, it still says he's suspended for 1 international game but it's not been applied yet. So I can only guess it doesn't count for the Copa America, maybe only in the Gold Cup (where he got sent off).

Mexico vs Venezuela (Copa America Group Stage)
We had too many chances to only win 3-0 but they did defend well and did make it hard for us. It's pleasing that we created so many chances and we have shown we can finish teams off but they did have a 5 minute spell where they got 2 good chances which is frustrating because it shows we can be weak defensively, but if we are scoring goals and creating chances like we are I think the defence will get away with it, for the moment.

Mexico vs Brazil (Copa America Group Stage)
They got off well and got 2 easy, simple, open net goals and then seemed to just sit back. We came out in the second half and although the stats don't show it we really did give them a game, we even equalized but it was given offside. It was a shame to give them a strong start and then chances to go even further ahead but it was pleasing to give them a game and push them. It will be hard in the Quarter Finals but we will definitely make a game of it!

Japan vs Mexico (Copa America Quarter Final)
This is why I will never understand the logics of Football Manager. We fly through the friendlys, putting away every chance we get, we hammer Chile, we hammer Venezuela and we even have good chances against Brazil scoring one. We get into the quarter final against Japan who are 60th in the World rankings, we are 13th and we have nothing. Our goal was lucky, deflected off Vela and went in. Their goals were screamers but I struggle to understand how the exact same squad can not even muster a genuine chance? It was horrible to watch. One of those games where you knew the minute they took the lead you had lost.

To add insult to injury (we knew this before the game) we would have a semi-final against Colombia. I can't express how annoyed I am at the loss.

I would usually agree but it was Japan. They did nothing. Just hit 2 good shots from the edge of the area. We had absolutely nothing. I've re-watched the highlights to find the 'clear cut chance' we had and it's Carlos Fierro's last minute header (straight at the goalkeeper). After that I've removed him from the squad and the national pool. There is only so many games a player wont impress me before he never plays for me again. Salvador Torres got close but he improved and played every game of the Copa America

They are the best young players, there are a few good regens that are 23/24 but I thought giving an on look to the younger side would be better, if you want any more screenshots just ask I'll happily oblige!

Look promising, especially Collazo and Millan. Torres is a strange one I think. Well rounded but his attributes don't really excel in places you want. Has good first touch and technique but could do witha couple more points on his passing and creativity.

Look promising, especially Collazo and Millan. Torres is a strange one I think. Well rounded but his attributes don't really excel in places you want. Has good first touch and technique but could do witha couple more points on his passing and creativity.

Also bad luck on Japan but we all know Nobby is right

I think it's about finding the right person to play with Torres more than anything and I have that in Jonathan dos Santos but not sure for how much longer.

Originally Posted by AK22

Bad luck against Japan, that's a typical Mexican performance.

It was the only game I can remember we've played and not created anything.